Diving plane



D80 29, 1964 H. c. DUREN ETAL 3,163,148

DIVING PLANE Filed May 6, 1963 a 3 INVENTORS ATTOPIVEV United States Patent O 3,163,148 DIVING PLANE Howard C. Duran, 1127 W. Montana Ave., Robert iF. Duren, 857 Albion Ave., and Ronald F. Kastron, 1254 Dayton Ave., all of St. Paul, Minn.

Filed May 6, 1963, Ser. No. 278,342 1 Claim. (ill. 114-16) Our invention relates broadly to an apparatus for use in swimming; more particularly to an apparatus to facilitate underwater swimming and diving procedures; and specifically to a manually held and manipulated diving plane particularly adaptable for use in the art of skin diving.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a manually held and manipulated diving plane particularly to aid a skin diver, towed by a powered boat in reaching a desired underwater depth without a swimming effort and undue use of portable air equipment.

A further object of this invention is to provide a manually held and manipulated diving plane that requires only the use of the divers hands and the effort of a powered towing vehicle to carry said diver to a desired underwater depth.

Another object of this invention is to provide a manually held and manipulated diving plane that is of unitary construction and relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a diving plane that is easily mastered by both novice and expert and which is completely safe in its operation as the same is secured to the diver only by means of grasping certain elements thereof with the hands and conversely released from the diver instantly by the simple expedient of releasing the grip of the hands on said elements.

These and other elements of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and claim when taken in conjunction with the appended drawing which forms a part of this application, and in which drawing, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

To the above end, generally stated, the invention consists of the following devices and combination of devices hereinafter described and dened in the claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention in use by a skin diver in a diving operation in a body of water.

FIG. 2 is a top plane view of the invention with a towing rope attached.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view taken on the line 3 3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary view partly in seciton showing the means for attaching a towing rope to the diving plane.

The numeral 5 is directed to the subject invention as an entirety and comprises a longitudinally elongated plane 6, rigidly secured to a mounting bar 7 the end portion 8 of said mounting bar 7 being extended to project outwardly of each end portion 9 of the plane 6. A pair of opposed hand grips 10 are formed integral with the outer end portion S of the mounting bar 7 and are at right angles to the horizontal plane of the plane 6. Safety tips 11 of suitable resilient material are provided to cap the end portion of the hand grips 10.

The plane 6 is preferably fabricated from a flat plate of sheet metal that extends transversely through a longitudinally disposed slot formed in the mounting bar 7 and as shown, a plurality of rivets 12 extend through the mounting bar 7 and the plane 6 at the transverse center thereof to thereby rigidly secure the said plane to the said mounting bar.

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It is highly important to note that the end portions 9 of the forwardly projecting portion of the plane 6 are cut at an acute angle, see numeral 13, for the purpose of keeping the towing ropes clear of the plane 6 while turning movements are made by the towing vehicle, not shown. The corners 14 of the rearwardly projecting portion of the plane 6 are also cut primarily in the interest of safety to avoid sharp corners, however, the side portion of the said rearwardly projecting plane surfaces are formed at right angles to the rear edge portion thereof, in contrast to the angular side portions 13 of the forward portion of the plane 6.

A pair of fixed sheaves 15 are angularly mounted adjacent each end portion of the mounting bar 7 just outwardly of the end portion of the plane 6. These sheaves afford a mounting station for a pair of thimbles 16, secured to the respective end portions of a towing rope 17 to form a pair of eyes having relatively loose fitting engagement with the fixed sheaves 15 to thus provide means whereby the towing rope 17 is secured to the diving plane 5. A thimble 1S is also secured to the towing rope 17 at the longitudinal center thereof to afford a connection with a relatively long towing rope, not shown, that is trailed behind the towing vehicle or secured directly to said vehicle when the towing rope 17 is of sufficient length as to place the diver holding the diving plane in a remote position from the propeller of the said towing vehicle.

To make use of the invention, it will be assumed that a proper connection has been made between the diving plane 5 and the towing vehicle, not shown, it is only necessary for the diver 19 to enter the body of water 29, grasp the hand grips 10 and with the diving plane 5 in motion, manipulate the said diving plane by wrist action, to a downwardly inclined plane and thus be drawn downwardly to a desired depth. Obviously, the degree of inclination will govern the speed at which the desired depth is achieved and by manipulation of the diving plane 5, the diver may reach a desired depth quickly and thence release his grip on the said diving plane or retain his grip and be towed underwater at any desired depth for any desired distance.

While there are herein disclosed but a limited number of embodiments of the structure, process and product of the invention herein presented, it is possible to produce still other embodiments without departing from the inventive concept herein disclosed, and it is desired, therefore, that only such limitations be imposed on the appended claim as are stated herein or required by the prior art.

What we claim is:

A manually manipulated diving plane for towing by powered means, comprising in combination, a relatively thin flat rectangular plane member, a mounting bar rigidly secured to said plane member and rigidly secured thereto substantially at the transverse center of said plane member, said mounting bar at the respective outer end portions thereof being longitudinally extended outwardly of the outer edge portions of the plane member, a pair of hand grips having safety tips formed integral with the outer end portion of the mounting bar affording means whereby the diving plane is manually held and manipulated about the longitudinal axis of the mounting bar, said hand grips being mounted at right angles to the horizontal plane of the said plane member, a pair of opposed fixed sheaves angularly mounted on the said mounting bar adjacent the said outer edge portions of the plane member, said sheaves affording a mounting station for the opposed end portions of a tow rope, said end portions of the tow rope being provided with thimbles to form an eye having engagement with the sheaves to thus pro- 3 4 vide a pivotal connection between the diving plane and 3,079,115 Edwards Feb. 16, 1963 its powered towing means. 3,087,698 Mullinx Apr. 30, 1963 Reim-ences Cited in the le of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS UNTED STATES PATENTS 5 1,122,401 Germany Ian. 18, 1902 177,885 Regley May 23, 1876 OTHER REFERENCES 185,177 Holcroft Dec. 12, 1876 Popular Science, vol. 171, No. 5, November 1957, page 2,709,266 Munn May 31, 1955 129.

3,039,415 Foster June 19, 1962 

